Many homeowners are receiving bogus letters from a company claiming they can reduce their property taxes after paying a small fee. When in reality, this is most likely not legitimate service and what many county officials are calling theft by deception. AKA – A SCAM
Some of the letters are coming from a firm called “Property Tax Adjusters” which is based out of San Diego with offices across the US. In these fake letters, this company claims that, for a fee of $189, they will reassess a property’s value and magically lower your property taxes.
Looks like business is booming for this company out of San Diego, Ca. I did a quick search and located the website and what appears to be absolutely TERRIFIC. With 13 offices operating in the Golden State, this makes me more than a bit concerned on how they have grown so much in bad economy.
Here are Property Tax Adjusters locations to beware of:
Known Website: http://www.proptaxadjusters.com/index-4.html
http://www.proptaxadjusters.com/index-4.html
CORPORATE OFFICE
2120 Las Palmas, Suite E
Carlsbad, CA 92011
+ 1 760 930 0985Telephone:
+ 1 760 930 9831 FAX:
Contact Us Via Email E-mail:
ALAMEDA
875 Island Dr.
Suite A-419
Alameda, CA 94052
Tel: (877) 450-8595
CONTRA COSTA
1966 Tice Valley Blvd.
PMB 414
Walnut Creek, CA 94595
Tel: (877) 450-8595
LOS ANGELES
3183 Wilshire Blvd.
Suite #196
PMB 707
Los Angeles, CA 90010
Tel: (877) 450-8595
PLACER
2945 Bell Rd.
PMB 211
Auburn, CA 95603
Tel: (877) 450-8595
RIVERSIDE
31805 Temecula Pkwy.
Suite D-7 PMB 788
Temecula, CA 92592-3900
Tel: (877) 450-8595
SACRAMENTO
2701 Del Paso Rd.
Suite 130 PMB 381
Sacramento, CA 95835
Tel: (877) 450-8595
SAN BERNARDINO
985 Kendall Dr.
Suite A-284
San Bernardino, CA 92407
Tel: (877) 450-8595
SAN DIEGO
3460 Marron Rd.
Suite 103-478
Oceanside, CA 92056
Tel: (760) 930-0985
SAN JOAQUIN
10940 Trinity Parkway #C
PMB 290
Stockton, CA 95219
Tel: (877) 450-8595
SANTA CLARA
2784 Homestead Rd.
PMB 366
Santa Clara, CA 95051
Tel: (877) 450-8595
SOLANO
1989 Peabody Rd.
Suite 7 – 250
Vacaville, CA 95687
Tel: (877) 450-8595
VENTURA
7770 Telegraph Rd.
Suite E
PMB 425
Ventura, CA 93004
Tel: (877) 450-8595
From the California AG: http://ag.ca.gov/consumers/pdf/prop_tax_scam.pdf
CONSUMER ALERT
PROPERTY TAX REDUCTION SCAMS
Companies using official-sounding names like “Tax Review,” “Tax Adjusters” and “Tax Reassessment” seek to scam homeowners who are worried about their property taxes and declining property values. They send misleading mailers that look like official government agency documents to trick you into sending them money to try to lower your property taxes. They also use addresses like “Regional Processing Center” to make you think the mail is coming from a government agency. Sometimes, they threaten to impose a late fee if you don’t send them money by a certain date.
Don’t be fooled. Government agencies don’t charge for tax reassessment—it’s free. If your property has declined in value and you think your property tax is incorrect, you can request a review of your property from your local tax assessor. For more information, contact your county tax assessor’s office.
What you can do to avoid becoming a victim:
- DON’T PAY MONEY FOR SOMETHING YOU DID NOT ASK FOR.
- CONTACT YOUR COUNTY ASSESSOR’S OFFICE DIRECTLY
- DON’T PAY FOR A MIDDLEMAN.
IF YOU ARE A VICTIM OF THIS SCAM, you can file a complaint with the Attorney General’s Public Inquiry Unit at www.ag.ca.gov/consumers or by writing to P.O. Box 944255, Sacramento, CA 94244.
If you received and paid the San Diego based company (with the San Diego phone # on the letter), contact the San Diego City Attorney also. If you received a letter from an L.A. based company, follow instructions from the Los Angeles Dept. of Consumer Affairs. Also contact the Attorney General. Complainants can contact the California Attorney General’s Office Public Inquiry Unit at (800) 952-5225.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
This horse puckie scam letter was mailed to my residence today and to the people of California I offer these words of advice; DO NOT SEND ONE SINGLE PENNY TO THIS FLY-BY-NIGHT CROOKED ORGANIZATION because you need to consummate your own personal property tax business face to face with your county property tax assessor. These jerks are attempting to steal your money for their own personal gain. Also, the following address did not appear on the “BEWARE LIST.” PROPERTY TAX ADJUSTERS, REGIONAL PROCESSING CENTER, 11856 BALBOA BLVD STE 281, GRANADA HILLS, CA 91344. ONCE AGAIN, SEND NOTHING TO ANY ONE OF THESE ADDRESSES. John Nevin, Millbrae, CA.
Moe, Thanks for bringing this issue to everyone’s attention. This so-called “service” is indeed, a scam. This company has been heavily active in the Southwest but thanks to a number of government warnings from offices such as the Nevada Attorney General and the California Attorney General, hopefully homeowners are being armed with the right information.
This type of fraud can be particularly dangerous because worries about scams may prevent people from using legitimate appeal services, which means that millions of people remain overassessed and paying too much in taxes. Here at ValueAppeal (www.valueappeal.com), we get calls and emails from consumers that are concerned – we’re glad they contact us so that we can help them, but it’s still worrisome that so many people are confused.
Here are a few things to look for in a non-scam service:
1) Make sure they have a money-back guarantee. If they aren’t prepared to refund your money if your appeal isn’t successful, you shouldn’t work with them. At ValueAppeal, for example, we simply refund our fee if the appeal isn’t successful.
2) Know your chances up front. Any legitimate service should tell you, before you pay a single dollar, whether appealing is right for you. At ValueAppeal, you simply enter your address and we indicate whether appealing might make sense and why; any service that doesn’t allow you to find out this information beforehand doesn’t deserve your money.
3) No obligation. After you’ve been told whether or not an appeal is in your best interest, legitimate services should contain no obligation to use the service. That is, once an appeal recommendation has been made, you should be able to choose between creating an appeal using the service or to try to gather the information on your own. We know from our customers that a ValueAppeal appeal has a better chance of succeeding, but once you find out that you’re eligible, there is no obligation to work with us – you can gather the info on your own and file on your own.
Those three rules are a good way to determine whether a service is a scam or not, but if you’re concerned, feel free to give us a call here at ValueAppeal – we try to keep-an-update list of scams and good services around the office, and we’re happy to help you understand your options. You can email me directly at charliew@valueappeal.com, follow us on Twitter @valueappeal, call us at 877-829-1277, visit us at http://www.valueappeal.com, whatever works for you – we’re happy to help if we can.